Image courtesy of Random House
Authors come and go, while others, especially those who scribe for children, withstand the yellowing of the folios. For generations, Dr. Seuss, Beatrix Potter and E.B. White have delighted parents and kids with their timeless tomes. No home library would be worth is shelf space without a mischievous cat in a hat, a lovable spider or a furry rabbit whose moniker is Peter.
While Seuss, White and Potter have been stalwarts on the best-selling list for generations, something wonderful, some would say magical, happened in the 1990s. A down-on-her-luck British writer, J.K. Rowling, waved a magic wand and changed children's literature forever. She introduced us to a boy wizard in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Seven books later, Rowling became one of best-selling authors on this or any other planet, as Hogwarts, Muggle and Quidditch nuzzled their way into our cultural lexicon.
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Rowling's success blew holes in the all-time children's best-seller list. The magazine, Publishers Weekly, was the last to catalog the best children's books in 2001. That was long before Rowling's last volume in 2007, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", sold 15 million copies in the first 24 hours, eclipsing in one day the all-time children's best-seller, "The Poky Little Puppy", first published in 1942 [sources: Forbes; Random House].
By 2011, Rowling had sold 450 million or so Harry Potter books [source: ABC News]. We say "or so" because trying to corral the sales figure of a book is like trying to capture a Golden Snitch during a round of Quidditch. In fact, by the time you finish reading this sentence, a few hundred more Harry Potters and Cat in the Hats have been sold.
Go to the next page and thumb through the 20 best-selling children's books of all time incorporating the sales figures for, shall we say his name? Harry Potter. No doubt you might have favorite, or two.
Sophie O'Connor
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Feb 7, 2024
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Photo by Picsea on UnsplashChildren’s literature is a critical part of a child’s development. Not only do books help improve literacy, but they also teach important lessons about life, culture, and feelings. While many new children and young adult books are published every year, there are also many beloved classics that are still read by young children today.
The research team at AAA State of Play created the following visualization of the best-selling children’s and young adult books throughout history based on the available sales data. Does your favorite childhood book appear on the list?
The best-selling children’s book of all time is The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and published in 1943. The story features a young prince who travels the universe in order to gain wisdom and understanding. It has sold more than 200 million books throughout the world.
How many of the books on this list have you read?